screen not as bright as Samsung Fascinate when in auto brightness mode

SandraW

(I thought I posted this question a few days ago, but can't seem to find it.... probably forgot to hit "post")

I put my new Samsung Droid Charge side-by-side with my Samsung Fascinate. Both obviously have

the Samsung AMOLED screens. When both phones are in auto brightness mode, the Charge is

a lot darker than the Fascinate. If I manually adjust the brightness to maximum on both phones,

they they are equally bright.

Is this just how Samsung programmed the auto brightness level on the Droid Charge?

I also noticed that the light sensor that automatically adjusts screen brightness is a little too sensitive.

It responds to changin light condition way too quickly. For example, it darkend immediatly if I simply

wave my finger over the sensor briefly.

Any advice appreciated! :smileyhappy:

Accepted answers

JerryF

SandraW,

I worked in the computer world for many years. When new software is developed every decision point in a software program cannot be pre-identified and/or pre-decided. Because of this as the programmer is writing the code he or she must make certain decisions themselves. My guess is that the programmer decided on what would be the nominal level of brightness for the Charge. With the Fascinate probably a different programmer made that same decision as to the nominal level of brightness and that is why they are different..

Looking back at you original question you actually answered your own question when you said, "Is this just how Samsung programmed the auto brightness level on the Droid Charge?" That's a correct observation by you!

You also said," any advice appreciated." May I suggest that you turn the auto brightness OFF and use my suggestion re the slider to control the brightness yourself. It's a few posts down this thread. I now do this to save battery power because the screen is by far the biggest user of mAh's of battery power. In the house I dim the screen brightness but outside I can quickly, using the slider, put it back to full brightness if I receive a call or for whatever other reason.

JerryF

All comments

SandraW

anybody? :smileysad:

WCMack

I'm not exactly sure how to advise you. It is impossible for me to say whether screen brightness on the Charge has a different response than that on the Fascinate, because I don't own the latter phone.

As to the sensitivity of the adjustment, I don't find my Charge to be as sensitive as you describe, but I am not sure that this is a defect.

AntonioC_VZW

SandraW wrote:
(I thought I posted this question a few days ago, but can't seem to find it.... probably forgot to hit "post")

I put my new Samsung Droid Charge side-by-side with my Samsung Fascinate. Both obviously have
the Samsung AMOLED screens.     When both phones are in auto brightness mode, the Charge is
a lot darker than the Fascinate.     If I manually adjust the brightness to maximum on both phones,
they they are equally bright.

Is this just how Samsung programmed the auto brightness level on the Droid Charge?

I also noticed that the light sensor that automatically adjusts screen brightness is a little too sensitive.
It responds to changin light condition way too quickly. For example, it darkend immediatly if I simply
wave my finger over the sensor briefly.

Any advice appreciated!

Hi SandraW,

I understand your concerns about certain differences between your devices. While both devices are manufactured by the same company, it is normal for them to behave differently and to have different factory settings. Most manufacturers will even change settings from one software version to the next. The differences outlined on your post are normal.

For more developmental information of the two devices, feel free to contact the manufacturer at 888-987-4357 or online at Samsung

JerryF

SandraW,

This MAY help you. It appears to me that you can change the baseline brightness of your Charge and then check AUTO. Try this, go to settings>display settings>Brightness. Then UN-CHECK Automatic Brightness. Next more the slider to the right to get a brighter setting. Finally RE-CHECK Automatic Brightness and click on OK.

If, after doing this, you compare your Charge and your Fascinate please tell us the results...thanks.

JerryF

SandraW

JerryF wrote:
SandraW,

This MAY help you. It appears to me that you can change the baseline brightness of your Charge and then check AUTO. Try this, go to settings>display settings>Brightness. Then UN-CHECK Automatic Brightness. Next more the slider to the right to get a brighter setting. Finally RE-CHECK Automatic Brightness and click on OK.

If, after doing this, you compare your Charge and your Fascinate please tell us the results...thanks.

JerryF

Thanks.... I tried your method several times on my Charge. It didn't work. The auto brightness always goes back to around 40%.

Oh well... at least it's normal for the Charge. The VZW store had two Charge phones on display and I tried both... same results. :smileyhappy:

HoustonHeart

The fascinate uses an older screen. The Charge uses the Super Amoled Plus. Which has more vibrant contrast and total brightness output (at battery cost) The difference also is more noticeable outside when you set the brightness to compensate in the sun. It dims lower in lower settings, brighter (normally) in brighter settings. Well at least in current beta of the Gingerbread build that seems to have fixed the sensor.

PJNC284

Probably just a bug in how the Charge deals with auto-brightness if manually adjusting it corrects the problem and other Charges produce similar results with auto-brightness enabled. Auto-brightness has been flaky in general and more of a battery hog on various android devices for me. I usually just have a toggle widget on the homescreen to quickly change it if I'm outside or something and need it brighter.

JerryF

SandraW,

To bad, thanks for telling me your results.

JerryF

SandraW

PJNC284 wrote:

I usually just have a toggle widget on the homescreen to quickly change it if I'm outside or something and need it brighter.

Could you tell me how to add that widget?

Thanks!

WCMack

Go to the Android Market and search under "display brightness". There are several to choose from.

JerryF

SandraW,

Here's one worth a KUDO. This is a neat way to QUICKLY increase or decrease the brightness of your Samsung Charge phone's screen without going into any menus. To use it you will have to first turn Auto Brightness OFF: Settings>Display Settings>Brightness.

All you do is TOUCH and HOLD the notification bar at the top of your screen until you see the brown colored bar of the notification screen appear BUT do not pull it down and do not lift your finger off the screen. Just slide your finger left and right to either darken the screen (go left) or brighten the screen (go right).

Slide your finger back and forth to see for yourself. It couldn't be faster to make your screen brighter when you walk outside or darker to save battery power when inside.

I tried it on my Samsung Charge and it worked great. I love it when a plan comes together!

I went back and looked at the Brightness settings slider at Settings>Display Settings>Brightness and using this method you are actualy moving the brightness bar slider back and forth when you slide your finger left and right.

JerryF

HoustonHeart

You can also add the control buttons to an area on the screen that toggles brightness as well as auto brightness on off. THe slider trick is a Samsung feature added.

In the Beta build for ginger bread __1h and now 1c, you have a button on the upper bar you hit and hold and a slider apears to control it, as well as it also gives you saturation control.

SandraW

HoustonHeart wrote:
You can also add the control buttons to an area on the screen that toggles brightness as well as auto brightness on off.

How do I add this control button to toggle auto brightness one and off?

Thanks!

JerryF

SandraW,

Did you try the method I described for making the screen brighter or darker? It's better than a toggle button because you can use it without leaving your current screen and/or without leaving an APP that you may be currently using but you need the screen to be brighter.

JerryF

HoustonHeart

Slider works best. Def turn off auto brightness for it to work right.

HoustonHeart

You add it as a applet to the screen. Hold down on screen to select one for get the name. It palces a bar with buttons. Toggles wifi, gps, brightness ect. IT isn't as exact as using the slider technique, the bar button is preset levels.

JerryF

HoustonHeart,

Saturation control will be GREAT for viewing photos. With it a person may be able to do a quick color calibration of the colors on his or her screen.

Also, in GingerBread the button may be a faster way than the slider method that I described to increase/decrease screen brightness.

Thanks for the info on GingerBread.

JerryF

SandraW

Wireless employees on this forum shoudl stop marking threads as "resolved" for no good reason.

The original question is NOT resolved. Not by a long shot.

JerryF

SandraW,

JerryF